10. Labor supply - number of workers

Now, the focus shifts to supply side shocks and a positive shock to labor supply is the first of the supply shocks presented in sections 10 - 14. Labor input in ADAM's production function is defined in terms of efficiency corrected labor hours, i.e. as a product of three elements: labor productivity, working hours per year per employed and employment. A change in any of these three components changes the labor input, and the three experiments of sections 10 - 12 present a shock to each of the three elements. In all cases production increases in the medium and long run. In the following, we consider the effect of a permanent increase in the number of people in the work force caused by a reduction of 27000 in the number of people outside the labor force not receiving transfers. The work force increases approximately by 1 percent of the total employment. (See experiment)

 

Table 10. The effect of a permanent increase in labor supply

    1. yr 2. yr 3. yr 4. yr 5. yr 10. yr 15. yr 20. yr 25. yr 30. yr
    Million 2005-kr.
Priv. consumption fCp 773 1839 2487 2564 2242 -1293 -4379 -6115 -6720 -6565
Pub. consumption fCo -17 -41 -61 -75 -84 -117 -151 -191 -225 -249
Investment fI 604 1807 2770 3214 3312 2244 1233 1200 1734 2392
Export fE 748 1641 2631 3706 4859 10975 16796 21627 25063 27124
Import fM 574 1573 2310 2617 2678 2395 2787 3870 5110 6165
GDP fY 1497 3550 5297 6513 7328 9003 10253 12131 14153 15895
    1000 Persons
Employment Q 1.63 4.42 7.39 10.03 12.20 18.14 21.40 24.43 26.62 27.56
Unemployment Ul 13.65 11.15 9.65 8.38 7.33 4.47 2.87 1.39 0.32 -0.13
    Percent of GDP
Pub. budget balance Tfn_o/Y -0.15 -0.12 -0.03 0.06 0.13 0.28 0.35 0.45 0.56 0.65
Priv. saving surplus Tfn_hc/Y 0.12 0.03 -0.08 -0.17 -0.21 -0.13 0.01 0.06 0.06 0.04
Balance of payments Enl/Y -0.03 -0.08 -0.11 -0.11 -0.08 0.15 0.36 0.51 0.62 0.69
Foreign receivables Wnnb_e/Y 0.06 0.05 0.01 -0.03 -0.03 0.57 2.02 3.93 6.01 8.08
Bond debt Wbd_os_z/Y 0.20 0.34 0.39 0.35 0.25 -0.65 -1.85 -3.29 -4.97 -6.79
    Percent
Capital intensity fKn/fX -0.09 -0.20 -0.28 -0.33 -0.35 -0.38 -0.49 -0.65 -0.75 -0.78
Labour intensity hq/fX -0.04 -0.08 -0.09 -0.08 -0.07 -0.02 -0.01 0.00 0.02 0.03
User cost uim -0.14 -0.26 -0.36 -0.44 -0.52 -0.83 -1.04 -1.14 -1.15 -1.10
Wage lna -0.31 -0.71 -1.03 -1.31 -1.55 -2.37 -2.86 -3.08 -3.06 -2.91
Consumption price pcp -0.14 -0.27 -0.39 -0.49 -0.59 -1.00 -1.30 -1.49 -1.56 -1.54
Terms of trade bpe -0.10 -0.18 -0.26 -0.32 -0.38 -0.61 -0.75 -0.82 -0.83 -0.79
    Percentage-point
Consumption ratio bcp -0.14 -0.08 0.00 0.07 0.10 0.00 -0.15 -0.23 -0.27 -0.26
Wage share byw -0.10 -0.22 -0.29 -0.33 -0.36 -0.42 -0.45 -0.42 -0.36 -0.30

(See details)

 

The increased labor supply is not automatically soaked up in the economy at once as there is no demand side response, so unemployment increases. The higher unemployment reduces the growth of wages and prices. The decline in prices relative to the baseline improves competitiveness, as a result production and exports increase and gradually pull the extra labor force into employment. Employment increases until the additional labor force is employed and the rate of unemployment is back at its structural level.

 

The positive effect on employment, the negative effect on wages and the positive effect on exports is permanent. Private consumption rises in the short run as the unemployed people receive unemployment benefits and other social benefits. The long term impact on private consumption is negative due to the negative real wage effect. Real wage effect arises because wages increase/decrease more than the general price levels due to the deadweight from the non-responding exogenous import prices. This creates a positive/negative real wage effect and real disposable income and private consumption increase/decrease permanently.

 

Overall, there is a positive effect on production in the long run because of the permanent increase in employment. At the same time, there is also a change in the relative prices of production factors, and labor has become relatively cheaper. This creates a substitution effect. A substitution effect arises when a change in the relative prices of factors induces producers to use more of a relatively cheaper factor and less of a relatively more expensive factor. Consequently, the substitution of labor for capital makes production more labor intensive and aggregate productivity falls. This offsets part of the increase in production.

 

There is a significant positive effect on public budget in the long term. The fall in public expenses exceeds the fall in revenues. Transfer payments and public wage-expenses decline as hourly wages fall. Other public expenditures also fall as prices fall. On the revenue side, taxes on personal income fall when hourly wages fall. But the number of tax payers increases and this offsets some of the fall in tax revenue.

 

The negative long-term impact on consumption should be seen in relation to two things: the absence of a fiscal reaction function and the size of the foreign trade elasticities. The increase in the labor force expands the tax base and improves public finances permanently. If the improvement were returned as tax reductions, consumption would increase. If the foreign trade elasticities were higher, the necessary fall in terms of trade and real wages would be smaller and consumption would respond less negatively. In general, a permanent increase in the labor force has a permanent positive effect on employment and output. This provides higher tax revenue for the government and a potential for higher public spending or lower taxes, which in turn could boost domestic demand and moderate the need for higher exports.

 

Figure 10. The effect of a permanent increase in labor supply with 27000 people

 

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fig_10_3_zoom38fig_10_4_zoom38

 

 

fig_10_5_zoom38fig_10_6_zoom38

 

 

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